Dreams come true at Tokyo Disneyland

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

While in Tokyo I managed to convince the B-Man to take me to Disneyland.

I’ve wanted to go since I was a child, and needless to say I was very excited the day it came to fruition.

The Disneyland in Tokyo was the first to be built outside the USA and is a replica of the Disneyland in Anaheim, California.

The Japanese of course make it extremely easy to get to and from the park.

We were staying in Shinjuku so we took the JR Yamanote line to Tokyo station, which took about 30 minutes. Here we transferred to the JR Keio line and hopped off at Maihama, which was covered by our JR Pass.

At Maihama your Disneyland experience begins as your board the Disney Monorail complete with Mickey Mouse windows. A single trip is Y250 (adult) y 130 (child) or a day pass can be purchase Y650 (adult) Y330 (child) which is a good idea if your are staying at the Resort or visiting both Disneyland and Disneysea.

Something I foolishly hadn’t considered before visiting Tokyo Disneyland, was that the rides would be in Japanese.

It was quite an experience traveling through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride with the narrator speaking another language. Interestingly though the character re-enactments were in English.

Being in Japan, the park was well organized and visitors waited patiently in line to visit rides, meet characters, and to purchase merchandise.

Disneyland visitors attempt to get up close with Minnie Mouse

Having never visited a Disneyland before I was not familiar with the Fast Pass concept that would have saved us a lot of time.

Fast Passes can be collected at popular rides, and basically reserve you a spot in the line at a given period. We didn’t catch on to the concept until we reached Splash Mountain and its 90 minute queue!

We headed to the Fast Pass machine, and although it was only 1.30pm, the Fast Pass could not get us on the ride until after 6pm that night! Had we known about the system and collected our Fast Pass when we arrived we would have been able to enjoy more rides on the day!

Of the rides we did experience, the Mad Hatters Tea Cups were definitely my highlight. We headed to the ride just after lunch as the line was much shorter, but for those with weak stomachs this is not recommended!

All smiles on the Mad Hatters Tea Cup Ride, even though it was right after lunch!

Another tip for those wishing to limit their time lining up is to head to some of the more popular rides while the parade is on. A large number of visitors (especially those with young children) try to catch a glimpse of the parade and their favourite characters so the lines are generally much shorter during this time.

Crowds gather for the 25th Anniversary parade
Overall the day was thoroughly enjoyable and my childhood dreams were not disappointed.

1 comments:

haidsnz said...

Hey just found your blog randomly when looking for accommodation in Japan. Did you find a good hotel to use when going to Disneyland? We are New Zealanders living in Singapore planning to stop off in Japan for a week. If you have any recommendations about accommodation and sites I would love to hear it. Great blog.
Haidee